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Through my own research, I've discovered that I'm a descendant of a couple of people that came over on the Mayflower. Having found that out, I'd like to join the Mayflower Society, but they require documentation to prove your lineage, as they should, and I don't have what they require (birth/death certificates, marriage certificates, etc).
They have some previously approved documentation in my family line down to a few generations ago. I need to start where their documentation ends, and come up with all the required documentation from there to my birth. I was going to take this on myself, but with a couple of years passing by since the discovery, I've realized that I'm probably not going to find the time to get it done anytime soon, so I'm looking at the idea of paying someone to do it.
Are there any professional genealogists here, or anyone that's hired a professional in the past? I'm trying to get an idea of what it might cost before I do much looking around for one. I realize that my costs will depend on exactly what they're going to have to do, so nobody's going to be able to say, "I'll cost $500" or anything like that. I'm basically wanting to know if they usually charge by the hour and what an average hourly rate would be, or by the job, or ?...
Also, is there much traveling that typically needs to be done for this kind of thing? I'm fairly certain that if someone has to physically go to rural southern Indiana to find a marriage certificate, or go to Boston to get birth record, or get on a plane for any other reason required to complete the task, the cost is going to be too high.
Referrals to someone you've had a positive experience with would also be greatly appreciated.
Through my own research, I've discovered that I'm a descendant of a couple of people that came over on the Mayflower. Having found that out, I'd like to join the Mayflower Society, but they require documentation to prove your lineage, as they should, and I don't have what they require (birth/death certificates, marriage certificates, etc).
They have some previously approved documentation in my family line down to a few generations ago. I need to start where their documentation ends, and come up with all the required documentation from there to my birth. I was going to take this on myself, but with a couple of years passing by since the discovery, I've realized that I'm probably not going to find the time to get it done anytime soon, so I'm looking at the idea of paying someone to do it.
Are there any professional genealogists here, or anyone that's hired a professional in the past? I'm trying to get an idea of what it might cost before I do much looking around for one. I realize that my costs will depend on exactly what they're going to have to do, so nobody's going to be able to say, "I'll cost $500" or anything like that. I'm basically wanting to know if they usually charge by the hour and what an average hourly rate would be, or by the job, or ?...
Also, is there much traveling that typically needs to be done for this kind of thing? I'm fairly certain that if someone has to physically go to rural southern Indiana to find a marriage certificate, or go to Boston to get birth record, or get on a plane for any other reason required to complete the task, the cost is going to be too high.
Referrals to someone you've had a positive experience with would also be greatly appreciated.
TIA!
Tia,
I have been in the process of getting all my Mayflower lineage documents for a few years, and have not been putting forth a ton of resources into it.
What I can tell you is that you probably won't need to physically go somewhere to get the records you need. I have the applications already filled out for a bunch of birth/divorce/marriage records and I just haven't added the all important money-order to them yet, but I know they exist. There are some connections you may have to prove without official documents, such as censuses, tombstones, newspapers, etc... I have a few connections such as this where I used a bunch of secondary cources to prove a connection.
Usually the society has a worksheet that you can download that can help get you started and then just start with Ancestry and then you'll know where your holes are!
I (with my parents) have hired and are currently working with a professional genealogist right now. We have done a ton of work ourselves, but being 1200 miles away from the area we are primarily researching makes it difficult to review records that are not online!!
What seems to be common (and what our pro does) is to have "packages" of hours, ie. a 15 hour research package. The hourly rate breakdown depending on the professional and the area could be anywhere from $25/hr to $45/hr or more. In our experience, we contacted the genealogist with a summary of what we were looking for and then had a "free" phone call about an hour in length to discuss the process, project, ask questions, etc. to make sure we were on the same page. At that point, we made the decision to hire. However, there is an extra charge for photocopy and mailing costs, etc.
I would recommend that you proceed on your own with ordering birth and death certificates, etc. that you know you will need. It takes less than 10 minutes to fill out the requests and write a check. Then you have to wait 2-6 weeks to receive the documents. Alternately, the genealogist you hire can make those requests, but I find it a poor return on investment to hire someone to fill out order forms for certificates.
If you know most of the research that needs to be done is in a specific geographical area, then I would look for a genealogist in that area. For example, most of our research at the moment is Early in Ohio. ie. in some cases, before the state capital of Columbus was even formed. So we hired someone in the area.
Finally, I agree with JJ that an important thing to do is visit the society website and download the forms and instructions they provide and review them to be familiar with what you need to provide for proof.
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